Editor's Note: Having competed
in this sport for four years and
reported for eight more, you'd
think I would have run across
this gem before. I guess it goes
to show that there's a lot of
stuff on that there Internet.

The following article is
reprinted from the ComBots
website (http://combots.
net/ guide-to-winning.php),
courtesy of author Dave
Calkins.

Judge Dave (Calkins) is one of the original BattleBots
judges, founding RFL member,
founder of RoboGames, and
co-founder of ComBots. These
are his words of wisdom.

Ignore them at your peril.

Since the year 2000, I have
judged over 2,500 robot
combat matches, and watched
close to 5,000 (a given event
can have anywhere from 100-
500 matches — they add up
after 10 years). All of the
following rules come from
watching contestants cry at the
smell of burnt metal and broken
dreams. Follow these rules and
you'll do well. If you don't, you
won't.

1. Know Carlo's Law and
live by it.

Carlo Bertocchini — builder
of BioHazard (three time
heavyweight champion) — came
up with this most important
rule. He put it better than I can,
so here it is:

Finish your robot before
you come to the competition!

This seems too obvious to
even mention, let alone to place
at the very top of a list of
secrets to success. Besides, so
what if you just have a little
wiring to do, or that one last
gear to mount? It's 3:00 AM,
you have been working for
36 hours straight. You can do
that last bit of wiring in the pits,
right? Well, the fact is if you
are in this situation, you have
probably already ensured a loss
in the arena.

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